The very spiritual core of me has been shattered with passing of my dear friend, my teacher, my Buddhist and Mindfulness Mentor: Shoken Michale Stone !!! Through all the trying, heartfelt as well as most existentially meaningfull times in my life, he and his teachings have been the only constant, most grounding thing in my life! And now he is gone...Last summer during my silent retreat with him, every night we would recite the Zen Chant, and now I am saying it for him with tears running down my face:

"Life and death are of supreme importance.Time swiftly passes by and opportunity is lost.Each of us should strive to awaken... Awaken!Take heed, do not squander your life."​His international Sangha community without borders is forever going to miss his most insightful, most authentic, deeply lived wisdom that grew out of lifelong dedicated meditative and mindful practice and service.... my heart is scarred by impermanence...

He wrote once:​"When we lose people, friendships, health, or we're dispossessed from a place we loved, we may think it's a temporary process of mourning that we are in. But maybe loss shows us some basic truth about who we are: we are tied to others and to place. Those bonds form us. It's not like there is an "I" that exists over here and a "you" over there somewhere. When I lose you, I lose me too. Grief challenges the very notion that we are separate selves. We do not always succeed at being whole. The faces of others, the touch and smell of them, our memories of places we have lived and loved - all of this undoes us. It should. Falling down is necessary for waking up to our shared humanity."~ Michael Stone

If you feel you are a student of life and looking to learn more about how Mindfulness, Meditation and Buddhist philosophy can make you more intimate with life experience, I sincerely suggest you check out the body of his work, which at its essence has a deep wisdom grown out of personal practice. May his work continue to inspire many... ​